


I Put a Spell On You

by miraimisu



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sun & Moon | Pokemon Sun & Moon Versions, Pocket Monsters: Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon | Pokemon Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon Versions
Genre: Bickering, F/M, Making Out, Moon and Gladion as a major power (non)couple, Rivals to Lovers, Sexual Tension, Wherein Moon is too Smug and Gladion has to teach her a lesson, sorcery!au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 10:53:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22055851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miraimisu/pseuds/miraimisu
Summary: Moon ends up putting her hands on her hips, shooting him a confident smirk. “Okay, maybe I was gonna give your sister and Hau a lil’ push in the right direction with a harmless spell. So what?”“It’s against the academy’s protocol.”“Shooting your fellow sorcerer’s cauldron with a fireball spell is also against the academy’s protocol. Neither of us plays by the rules, you know.”
Relationships: Gladio | Gladion/Mizuki | Selene, Gladio | Gladion/Moon, implied Hau/Lilie | Lillie (Pokemon)
Comments: 16
Kudos: 42





	I Put a Spell On You

New Year's Eve is a time of happiness, magic, fireworks and shared hugs. Well after the fateful chiming bells and the havoc as the new year rolls in, Moon finds other adjectives to address the festivities with. Namely, at some point, she had called them boring.

But then, her eyes met the shapes of Lillie and Hau talking in the hallway of the academy and the wooden wand tucked in her big pockets had nearly _vibrated_ in excitement for the umpteenth time tonight, as though it had chosen a victim at the same time Moon had.

Moon behaving mischievously would be entirely unheard of to anybody who didn't know her personally. Pale, rosy cheeks, big eyes, and sweet smiles can fool the first-grade novices that come by every day, but it certainly can't fool her friends or the usual people meandering around the academy.

Moon, a brilliant botanist and expert in magic potions, is as intelligent as she's cunning, flicking her wand to make use of all the spells she has tucked at the back of her head. True, she spends most of her time bent over a cauldron stirring a spoon twice her size, but that doesn't mean she hasn't been snooping around with books on other matters.

And the _Infatuatio_ spell, whilst severely frowned upon by the magic council that is for sure watching her steps, is right up her alley when she sees the two lovebirds alone, sharing laughs and maybe a few touches here and there.

Observing from a corner, Moon pinches her lips in thought. Throughout the night, Moon has been making great use of her wand for several deeds: be it making one nervous counselor and a fidgeting artist start talking, be it sneakily grab a mistletoe from a bush and make it hover an unsuspecting couple, or be it make a few books fall off their shelves to make two lovebirds brush hands while picking the books up; Moon had squealed _hard_ at that.

She's the official matchmaker of this party, so Lillie and Hau _can't_ leave without getting a taste of Moon's best-reserved spell. She's been putting her wand to good use throughout the whole night and essentially gone through her entire personal spellbook– but she's got one spell left.

She's one of the strongest sorcerers in the magic realm, maybe only bested by the magic council– all of it with _exceptions_. Moon is a proud, professional botanist when she leaves the magic realm; but she's an even prouder sorcerer, sporting the record of having _never_ been a victim of a spell. She has never been defeated in a duel. There's no spell or potion she doesn't know.

She _will_ make this work.

Moon has been saving her last spell for the best time possible. She twirls her wand out of her pocket, lips pursed in focus. Her good friends, oh so good and so naïve, haven't detected her presence yet.

The _Infatuatio_ spell isn't meant to make people fall in love– goodness, the magic council has long banned spells as dangerous as those, and no matter how many times Moon has asked to read about them, she has always been met with a no. At maximum, spells like these are meant to enhance certain behaviors and physical dispositions, and while Moon knows it's sorta _kinda_ forbidden to put a spell on two unsuspecting people – and even more morally questionable considering they're very close friends of hers – she just can't help herself.

They'll thank her for this– they better fucking _thank_ her for making them take the final leap after _years_ of beating around the bush.

Moon's wand begins to radiate a thin pink glow. " _Infatuatus_ , _Infatuati_ , _Infa–_ "

And then, a harsh hand cups her mouth and yanks her out of the corridor and around the corner, where her back is met with the white, cold concrete of the walls and a very chiding frown meets her eyes, green crashing with black.

"Have you gone _insane_?"

Moon bites back a groan. Of _course_ it had to be Gladion _fucking_ Aether raining over her parade.

Despite the authority he exercises, she gently, adamantly, pushes his hand off her mouth. "Excuse you, I was in the middle of a very important mission and you're ruining my tempo. If you'll excuse me–"

But Gladion, in all his predictability, pushes her back to the wall with one single hand curled around her shoulder. His touch remains there. "I'm _not_ going to let you finish that spell. You know very well these things are forbidden."

Moon crosses her arms. "Who says?"

"Me and my mates at the magic council, to name only one institution you're trying to downright go against."

And whatever façade of confidence and pride she was wearing crumbles to dust when he uses the old authority classic. Gladion is indeed her _superior_ as a member of the magic council, as much as she hates to admit it, and he can pull the 'I can sue your ass' card whenever he can– he actually does that fairly often.

He once did that when she was trying to pour a very important potion into a vial and he scared her from behind and she nearly set his very unethically ethereal hair on fire.

Moon taps her boot against the tiles of the hallway, refusing to meet his eye. "Stop belittling my missions. You know full well what I was trying to do."

"You were trying to terrorize another defenseless couple." The use of the word _another_ prompts her to arch an eyebrow, and he elaborates quickly with a sigh. "When I saw approximately five couples walking hand in hand, I knew this had to be your doing one way or another."

She pouts. "You have no proof of that."

"I _saw_ you disassemble a whole shelf with a single flick of your wand. I was on my way to tell you about that when I found you about to push my _sister_ and Hau together."

Her jaw tightens in frustration. Gladion might be higher up the food chain than her, but he's always on her heels in a manner too exclusive and cunning to not piss her off. They have long established themselves as rivals, if the late-night duels are any proof of that. She has beaten his ass a jaw-dropping amount of times, and he's frustrated enough about that matter to persistently pester her whenever he deems it fit.

In hindsight, she should have known he would come along. Gladion has never shown any interest in her friendship with Lillie but his sister's love life is an entirely different topic.

It's a shame that he's this impossible considering he is, by far, the most handsome man she has ever seen in her entire life. She has her job outside the magic realm – she only comes to the academy one half of the week and stays the other half in her homeworld –, so her world is much bigger than his. And he's still the most handsome man, but also the most infuriating one.

God, she wants to burn his hair to a crisp.

Moon ends up putting her hands on her hips, shooting him a confident smirk. "Okay, _maybe_ I was gonna give your sister and Hau a lil' push in the right direction with a harmless spell. So what?"

"It's against the academy's protocol."

"Shooting your fellow sorcerer's cauldron with a fireball spell is also against the academy's protocol. Neither of us plays by the rules, you know."

Gladion stammers something that melts halfway, as though he's having about ten breakdowns at the same time, and then grabs her forearm to drag her out of the hallway, stomping over to the stairs. In all fairness, Moon wouldn't have wanted Lillie and Hau to find out that she nearly put a spell on them, so she can thank Gladion for being grumpy only _this_ once.

The basement of the academy is where most of the losers hang out in the building, and since everyone is a loser in this academy, all of the floors under the basement – most of them repurposed alchemy labs for the festivities – are packed with people and the top floors are empty. Gladion is probably taking her to the balcony, a place where they often meet when she's brewing potions in her favorite golden cauldron.

When they reach the balcony, they're alone, the night is chillier than she had anticipated and the cauldron is nowhere to be seen, which instantly appalls her. "Oh my God, where you _that_ petty that you had to get my favorite cauldron removed?"

Gladion leans against the railing of the balcony, arms crossed. "You know what you and Hau did with the cauldron last year. We don't want another ' _Make Room for the Rum_ ' situation to arise again."

Moon remembers that situation with foggy memories. Moon had made the regrettable decision to challenge Hau to pour all the rum brands stored in the basement into the cauldron. She had told him they could try to mix it into a new potion she had come up with at her actual job after a week of too much work and very little free time. Both of those lines of thought crossed in her head and when they tried to create the concoction, it had blown up to the sky and Moon had fallen off the balcony.

She had managed to save herself with a floating spell, but the downside to all the trouble had been the sacrilegious amount of alcohol exposed to the public, which had earned her a very intense duel with Gladion that she had won, much to his hysteria.

It had been a great night.

Moon, raptured by the memories of that night, doesn't notice Gladion snaking closer to her until his hand is on the railing and he's towering over her. "What got into you tonight to cause all this much trouble?"

She gives him a brilliant smile. "Festive spirit!"

"That's not a thing nor an excuse. The damage you have done tonight is appalling."

"Do you know the number of sexually frustrated fools you're housing in this academy? _That's_ appalling. I was giving you a hand." Gladion grits his teeth and Moon crosses her arms, twisting her body so she doesn't have to look at him. "I was just giving them a little push. And practicing. You always insist on me practicing the spells I don't put to use."

His eyebrows sink in frustration. "Moon, as much as I hate to admit it, you're a terrifyingly _brilliant_ botanist and potion-brewer. You shouldn't even have a wand with you."

She pretends that compliment didn't do a little thing at the pit of her stomach and bites her cheek until it hurts. "Listen, you know perfectly well that New Year's Eve is when people get together the most, and I know a few people who needed me to step in."

" _N_ _obody_ needed you to step in, especially my sister."

The smirk that curls her lips is downright insulting. "So it's about Lillie, then? Never knew you had such a soft spot for her."

"You know perfectly well that's _not_ what I'm talking about." His chin is jutted in refusal, eyes darting to the tree-topped horizon. The stars twinkle in his eyes. It's pretty. "It's not up to us sorcerers to decide what people do with their lives. Had anybody but me seen you and they would have busted you in a trial."

"But you _didn't_."

"I still have a vendetta with you for what you did to my wand the other day– you still need to pay me for that."

"Don't change the topic!" Moon might be one of the most wealthy sorcerers in the academy but she _hates_ talking about money with people. "Listen, Lillie and Hau make a great couple– hell, he even helped you brew potions when I wasn't around. He's a great guy!"

But Gladion, however, seems to disagree. "I don't like him."

Her eyes turn stale. "Who do you _even_ like?" In response, Gladion gives her an unreadable look that she mistakenly interprets as defeat. She shrugs. "See? You should broaden your horizons a little. It wouldn't hurt you to see things the other way around, you know."

Much to her surprise, Gladion turns silent at this. It's very difficult to make Gladion Aether go mute with so few words, but she's managed to do that and she's pleased with herself. However, his silence soon turns lengthy and too poised to _not arouse_ any suspicion, so she swings her eyes to him.

Moon nearly jumps out of the building when she sees that he has a new wand and that it's glowing in soft pink, but his eyes are thoughtful. "So you want me to 'broaden my horizons'? How can _you_ say that when you've never gotten a taste of your medicine, Moon?"

A proverbial knot lodges itself in her throat and her stomach lurches. "Are you _threatening_ me?"

His smirk is cruel, but his voice is unfairly even. "Not at all, I'm just trying to get you to think about your actions. You nearly got Lillie and Hau in trouble and I don't think you even know what you were about to do."

Moon's eyes narrow, sharp in suspicion. Gladion pointing a wand in her direction, be it from close or from afar, isn't new– but the context is much more inappropriate and intimate for this to look like a call for a regular challenge. If anything, he looks down straight _mean_ in her eyes, and his words don't make it any easier. Her eyes dart from the glowing wand to him, and then back to the wand again.

One of her boots hisses against the cold stone floor as it attempts to take a step back that he gladly follows with one of his own towards her. "What's wrong? Is the almighty Moon scared of being put under a spell?"

" _No_ ," she says a bit too quickly and with too much pride to not look tense. "I'm _not_. You're being ridiculous."

"You're the ridiculous one. I get complaints from people saying that they _can't_ put spells on you because you're that good. People _complain_ about these things here, Moon."

"Considering you're pointing a charged wand at me right now, the compliment looks half as good as it could have been."

His eyes shrink to a sneer. "The point is that you need to know what it feels like to be under that influence. It's a matter of simple education. The delight of tormenting you is a very juicy side effect too, not going to lie."

"Your sincerity _isn't_ welcome," she deadpans.

The wand shines a little brighter. Moon never thought pink would look this intimidating. "You know full-well the side-effects of the _Infatuatio_ spell, right?"

"Light-headedness, sensitivity, tunnel vision," Moon lists off the top of her head. Her focus is dimly muddled with the view of the wand in front of her and the growing smirk on his face, "and I think heart-shaped eyes, but I'm positive Hau just made that up."

"Well, you _could_ say you're about to grow a pair of heart eyes now."

Moon blinks. "What do you–"

She barely has any time to brace herself for the spell, and when it comes, it washes over her in an unexpectedly pleasant wave of warmth and sparkles that frizz from her toes to her neck, making her shudder as the glow fades from her body and she regains her balance. The experience of being put under a spell isn't nearly as bad as she had anticipated it, and when she tries to reach out to not topple over, a hand on her shoulder stabilizes her.

Oh, his hand feels so nice on her shoulder. What the _fuck_.

Her eyes rise to find Gladion a little closer than before, and he's not teasing or cruel but he certainly looks a little too smug. Whatever efforts she's putting to mask her daze are failing miserably.

In what moment did it become a good idea to let herself be put under a spell while being alone with her _rival_? There's nobody around right now. This is dangerous.

The way he's looking at her is even worse. Moon frowns. Her cheeks flare. "Don't say a _word_."

"I don't have to. Your eyes say it all." His eyes seek hers as her irises dart everywhere to get rid of that tunnel vision she had mentioned earlier– a terrible foreshadowing of her current predicament. "How does it feel, Miss Matchmaker?"

That's hard to say. Her body feels weirdly warm and her knees are a little weak, enough for her not to fall but enough for her to feel slightly wobbly. His hand is still slanted on her shoulder and it's generating a very pleasant sensation that's doing weird things to her stomach. In the middle of her daze, Moon cleverly thinks her overly vulnerable state must have to do with her lack of exposure to such spells, but being rational doesn't help at all here.

"It feels weird," she says. "I feel stupid. And you're too close."

"Believe it or not, I don't want you to fall over the balcony again because of your questionable handling of sorcery matters like these." Moon is acutely aware of each of his moves. When his hand moves an inch closer to her neck, her whole body is aware of it. "It's better for you to go through this now than later. I'm legally obligated to keep these things a secret."

Well, that's oddly convenient. "Fuck right _off_ with your legal obligations. You just went ahead and did something as morally reprehensible as what I was gonna do earlier."

"I did it for educational reasons."

"This barely classifies as educational! You just wanna mess with me!"

Moon can't physically sound threatening, and it comes as a whine that makes him shake his head with the ghost of a smile. "You earned it for putting all your fellow sorcerers through something similar. You're dizzy because you're not used to this."

"It's unfair to pull that on me without warning, though."

"You didn't warn the others earlier and you certainly weren't going to warn Lillie and Hau either." He makes a very compelling argument. "It's not like it feels bad, right? These things are only meant to be _enhancers_ , not actual hardcore psychological sorcery like that from the twenties."

Moon's spirit leaves her body altogether when he says that. The theory of spells catches up with her and the coin drops on her so hard she might get a concussion. Spells like _Infatuatio_ aren't meant to trigger feelings that have never been there– they're just that, _enhancers_. People had gone as far as to compare it to a drug, but spells usually fade in a matter of minutes and it's not like Gladion would put a spell on her if he knew it'd be as dangerous as a drug.

He might be a piece of shit, a grumpy pants, and an asshole but she wants to think that they have some sort of camaraderie that should rule out any of those possibilities.

If his touch is _this_ warm and this pleasant, that's because it _was_ pleasant before. Moon has oftentimes found herself thinking that his hand feels nice when she pulls him to his feet, and she once hugged him. That was nice. He has an oddly warm frame and he's conveniently tall. It's all a matter of being scientifically objective. It's logical. He's a human. Touching a human feels nice.

For whatever ungodly reason, logic feels like the last of all reasons. The spell should fade in no time and she will be fine again.

That doesn't mean that this spell hasn't opened a can of worms into a matter too deep and complicated for her logical mind. Moon is a woman of plants, potions, spells, science, microscopes, and books. Nowhere does attraction fit in.

Frustrated with her feelings and unable to understand what's even going on within her body – a matter she should have complete control of – Moon bites her lip and looks to a side.

Gladion seems to catch on, smirk growing and tugging at his lips. Moon wants to dig herself a grave and _die_. "What's up? Do you like me being this close to you?"

" _No_ ," she bites, digging the tip of her boot on the stone ground. "I hate this spell. I hate _you_ so much right now."

His brow furrows in what seems at first like confusion, but then turns thoughtful and musing. His hand runs from her shoulder to her neck, where her skin is hot and a small bead of sweat is running down her pulse. It's foreign to her how his touch can be scorching when it's _chilling_ around them. The air is electric, her body is warm, but there's space for her to think and step back if she wants to.

The thing is, she doesn't. And she can't figure out _why_.

These must be the physical _sensitivities_ thatthe books and she herself mentioned.

Both of his hands cup her cheeks now as if to feel the heat directly on his palms. If her face was beet red before, it might turn purple now. The embarrassment on her face is _violent_.

Much to her shock, he seems surprised. "I, uh, wasn't expecting you to get this worked up about it. It's funny, though."

"It's not funny!" Moon hisses, putting her hands over his to pry them off but then forgetting to do that last part halfway.

Gladion's smirk turns a little more earnest. "You know how these things work. You wouldn't look like that if you didn't like my touch. Never thought the proud prodigy of the academy would become a blushy mess like this."

Moon squares the tease with the unprecedented grace of a pissed off raccoon, hissing. "Says the member of the magic council."

"You can't expect me to be any more morally abiding than you just because I'm in a higher position than you, you absolute _troublemaker_." His thumbs trace her cheekbones. She pretends her knees didn't quiver. "If this is all it'll take for you to calm down, I'll put this spell on you over and over. You know perfectly well these spells are just–"

" _Enhancers_ , I know!" she mumbles, irritated that he's reminding her.

To add insult to injury, a chuckle leaves him. "That means you like my touch. It's very amusing. I never thought my rival would be so thrilled about me being like this, not to mention that you have a weak point so on the nose that it's hilarious."

Moon's teeth grit. A small whine escapes her when his fingers trace the back of her ear, and a hand shoots out to his shirt for leverage. His other hand sinks to her hip and it feels approximately a hundred times better there than on her face. "You're being too mean about this."

"Oh, you're _loving_ it."

"If you already know I _do_ then stop reminding me of that!"

But he laughs – more so at the situation than her – and Moon has to wonder where, when and _how_ she became so weak for the touch of this asshole sorcerer. When did her body begin to cultivate this weakness and how can she get rid of it?

Gladion, however, seems to have something to say. "You're just pissed I was intelligent enough to corner you into your own trap."

"You're frustrating and impossible, that's what you are."

"Oh, _I_ am impossible?" Moon nods vehemently, pouting. "Says the one who was causing trouble tonight to start with! It's not my fault I need to be behind you to check if you get anybody or _yourself_ in trouble."

"You say it as if you didn't enjoy chasing me around! You're always around me doing shit to piss me off!"

Gladion's grip on her hip tightens. "Somebody has to keep you under control. You're making my job as a member of the council _and_ a sorcerer much more difficult by _existing_."

Moon has always had a sharp tongue; the spell has sharpened it to a razor.

"You seem to be enjoying my existence very _fucking_ much."

His eyes widen for a second, but far from ever escaping a challenge, he stands proud. "Well, what if I do?"

The meaning of his words reaches her two seconds too late.

"What are you gonna do about it, then?"

A thin veil of silence hangs between them, so fragile and transparent it might as well be glass. He stares at her with burning intensity and wanton, and Moon's eyes narrow in both accusation and fervor from both the spell and the burning curiosity she has for how his hands would feel in other places, for how much she needs to explore whatever this spell's effects mean for their uncanny friendship and rivalry.

Three exact seconds pass between them.

And then her back collides with the brick wall violently and his lips are on hers in a way that brings the word 'scandalous' to mind, and that riles her spell-induced fervor up even further. His hands lift her legs to where she can curl them around his hips, moaning as he all but presses her so hard against the wall she might burn her skin and get a few cuts– but she couldn't care less.

She thinks that at some point, Gladion making her shudder and groan and be weak and molten will get boring eventually– but it doesn't, and he keeps handling her like they're in a duel and _god she loves duels_.

Her body vibrates like it's been waiting and starving for his touch for way too long. Her mind staggers to agree with this notion as he tugs at her bottom lip with his teeth, and she answers by pulling at his hair and moaning at his touch, tilting her head to deepen the kiss to where he can burn her to the ground as he pleases. Gladion releases a grunt so primal and so hoarse if it weren't for his arms holding her steady, she'd fall to the floor.

Small whimpers escape her throat as the knot from earlier dissolves into a spree of moans and little noises that he swallows with his mouth. His long fingers burn under her thighs and his teeth dig into her lips as her tongue touches his lip in a fervent question, one that he doesn't hesitate to answer as they meet halfway into the dance, her shy tongue brushing with his daring touches.

Moon thinks she might have been waiting for this for a few months now, and that all of it had been at the back of her head, desire for him coiling further and further, battle after battle; if that's the case, Gladion might have been waiting forever considering how adamant and desperate he is about destroying her.

And _god_ , she needs more of that desperation to continue living.

They break away after a few minutes, but only to breathe and jam in a few words. Moon's cheeks are blistered as they were before, but Gladion now shares that trait and the spell might have worn off by now, she's not sure– but the memory of his lips on hers is enough to keep that fire living.

"You know," she pants, "kisses are usually given right when the countdown ends. You're a few hours late."

Gladion puffs out something between a chuckle and a grunt. "Do you think these are the kinds of kisses I'd give my _rival_ in New Year's Eve?"

"I don't know," Moon confesses, her nails brushing against his scalp. "But I wouldn't mind getting some more of those. It's your fault you got me all weird and sensitive anyway."

"So you're asking your rival to take care of you?"

Her fingers fall from his neck to his unkempt tie, tugging at it insistently with a nod. His insistence on them being _rivals_ despite this very obvious tension between them is baffling. "If you don't, I'm gonna cast the spell on _you_ next time and it's not gonna be pretty."

That's all it takes for him to kiss her senseless again and Moon instantly decides that maybe getting a spell cast on herself wouldn't be so bad if he's at the other end of the deal and they're gonna end up like this.

But only when they're in private and in a semi-romantic area– never in duels. She's _so_ gonna kick his ass tomorrow.

**Author's Note:**

> Alternative title: Mirai Has a Whole Sorcery World In Her Head With Two Overpowered Sexually Frustrated Idiots Throwing Spells At Each Other But Has No Time To Develop It
> 
> on another note when I post it it'll be like 9-10pm so it WON'T BE NYE yet but HAPPY NEW YEAR dear lonnietoonies! I'm very glad to be ending the year AND the decade in this fandom because it's helped my emotional estability AND my writing a lot <3 It's good to be writing fueled by motivation and I'm happy to be out of a toxic fandom and be in a much smaller but warm one <3 Thank you all for making the better part of this year so good, you're all super sweet and I hope you like what I have to bring for this year! I got lots of projects and stuff to post so look out for that!
> 
> I also can't wait to read what you all got for us, and if you're a reader, I hope to see you around! Merry Christimas and have a happy new year everyone!!!! <333
> 
> EDIT [March of 2020]: The sequel to this fic can be found [here!](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23383873)!


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